~ Change is Good

Tag Archives: money

I wasn’t able to post my Month Four update on the correct date–the 21st of the month–because I was on a cruise ship in Bermuda and, well, the internet was really expensive on board the ship. Sure, there was an internet cafe in the port–a few hundred feet from the ship–but I didn’t go there once. After all, why spend time inside when the outside looks like this?

While I have been known to over-saturate my photos, this one has not been edited in any way. The colors are all real!

I did spend some time thinking about this post on that day–my four month career break anniversary. I thought about it as I sat overlooking the port, contemplating my utter lack of plans for the day. I thought about it while I wandered into port to inquire about the possibility of a tour of some kind. And I really thought about it whilst snorkeling in the beautiful blue water shown behind me in the photo at the top of this post. I thought ‘gee–maybe I am having a mid-life crisis!’ But that thought passed quickly, and I continued to float above the coral and bond with the parrot fish.

If that’s a crisis, then I’m ok with having one.

This month passed more quickly than any of the previous months. I’m not sure why this is, but I certainly hope that time starts to slow down sometime very soon! During this very quick month, I…

-S-L-O-W-L-Y started an exercise routine. While I did not keep it up during my trip, I did resume immediately upon returning.

-Finally began drafting my book. It is going well but, again, slowly.

-Determined that I need to leave the house to get actual writing done.

-Spent a lot of time at Barnes and Noble (see above!)

-Learned that I can live without the internet for a surprisingly long amount of time.

-Freaked out about the fact that my career break ‘wasn’t living up to it’s potential’.

-Took a last minute trip to Bermuda.

-Learned that I can do a great many things all by myself without even thinking about it.

-Continued to research freelance writing opportunities.

-Applied for two ‘real’ jobs–heard nothing back.

I go back and forth between feeling really good about this year and being very afraid. On the one hand, the fact that I was actually able to seize a cheap last-minute travel opportunity makes me very happy. That was half of the point of this year, and having done it once I’m confident it will happen again. I can very proudly and confidently respond to the oft-asked question where are you going next? with I don’t know …because I know that I will be going somewhere–and I can’t wait to find out where that will be!

However, I don’t live in a dream world–or in a world of unlimited funds. I need to make money somehow. In the short term, I need money to fund these trips I so want to take. In the long term, I need to find something to do ‘for a living’ that pays actual money–you know, so we don’t lose our home. And while I have lots of ideas of how to do that, nothing I’ve attempted so far seems to have panned out. Even when I do finish this book there will be a long time between typing the last word and getting the first paycheck (if there even is a paycheck–but I’ll worry about that when the time comes!)

And so, this career break continues to be an up-and-down ride. I’m happy and content one minute, freaking out and anxiety-ridden the next. But even in the worst of times I’m much calmer than I was this time last year–and in the best of times, I’m snorkeling in Bermuda.

Today went well. Sort of. I managed to upload all of my relevant iPhoto albums to Picasa and then to Picasa web. I figured out how to link photos directly to wordpress posts. I even managed to post one from my netbook–which is what I’m doing now. The above photo was taken almost a year ago–in Amsterdam, on my iPhone. It was uploaded to iPhoto, uploaded to Picasa Web, and then edited and posted here using my crappy little netbook.

But why did I take an entire day to do these things? To save money of course! You see, I really (really) feel like I need a Macbook. Or at least something other than this tiny little netbook. I have a mac desktop, but obviously that’s not going to be coming with me on my various trips. So I needed a way to easily do word processing, photo uploading and a bit of photo editing from my netbook. Which I can now do. However…

It took me nine and a half minutes to go from netbook off to able to surf the web.

It took me an additional ten minutes to fiddle with the above photo in Picasa and upload it here.

Do I want to spend twenty plus minutes just to get to the point of being able to post, upload, or research something? The answer, unfortunately, is yes. Which brings me to Career Break Universal Truth #1…

You are going to end up spending more time than money, simply because you are going to HAVE more time than money.

What that means to me today is that it has to be ok that I’m typing this–and writing my whole book–on an eight inch keyboard. It has to be ok that it take twice–or three times–as long to do everything. I cannot get frustrated with it. Because no matter what, it is better than what I was doing before.

If I think of any more Career Break Universal Truths–and trust me, I will–I’ll be sure to share them with you. Stay tuned!

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